Downs Law Firm, P.C.
You spend a lifetime building your business, so it’s crucial to have a game plan when it’s time to leave. Being prepared will help optimize the transition from a financial and tax perspective.
Even Consumer Reports suggests working with an experienced estate planning attorney to make sure documents are correctly prepared.
Does a person need a Power of Attorney document if that person already has a Last Will and Testament (‘Will’)? It is a critical piece of the planning puzzle.
Q: Is there a difference between a ‘living will’ and a ‘do not resuscitate’ order?
All couples can now take advantage of tax benefits for married partners, pass assets from one spouse to another with ease and qualify for Social Security spousal and survivor benefits. However, not all couples want to get married.
A common dilemma that families face upon the incapacity or death of a loved one is locating estate planning documents. While preparing the documents are the most important step, that is irrelevant if the documents are lost when they most need to be used.
When you set up your estate plan it is important to coordinate the legal planning documents that you or you and your attorney create with the document provided by your retirement account custodian and/or your life insurance carrier called a ‘Designation of Beneficiary.’
It is quite a tragedy when a loved one passes away. You may want to remember them by keeping sentimental objects from their home, or perhaps they wanted you to inherit a specific item.
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is never easy. When inheritances, homes, estates and mortgages are involved, tensions can run high within a family. It is easy to get lost in the paperwork and terms.
Your dad bequeathed you a generous sum of money on his passing. Those gifted and inherited assets, in many instances, will be considered ‘separate property,’ not marital property. That might mean that they might not be subject to division, if you divorce. However, perhaps you want to backstop that hoped for result to make the protection more likely to stick if your marriage doesn’t work out.
Copyright © IMS. All rights reserved. You may reproduce materials available at this site for your own personal use and for non-commercial distribution. All copies must include this copyright statement. Some artwork provided under license agreement.
